


The Locker Room Society

by blacklightkale



Category: Slipknot (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 15:58:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15319017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacklightkale/pseuds/blacklightkale
Summary: It was no secret that it was the girl’s locker room before it caught on fire. He wasn’t there when it had happened, but he could remember seeing the school on the news with reporters explaining the situation that broke out, and Corey being bummed the whole time that it wasn’t happening to his junior high instead. Since the school barely had any funds to fix it they only cleared out any debris that was a nuisance. He would always hear the teachers rumor that it was now a storage room but no one believed it. Not even himself. Besides, why would a storage room have a chain and lock on it? He could see it wrapped up along the handle that kept it occupied from any person trying to get inside.





	The Locker Room Society

The final bell rang on a Thursday afternoon. Kids flocked out of their classrooms and to their lockers, eager to leave school and return to their homes. The narrow hallway easily clogged up with over a few hundred students crammed together, causing traffic to unfold, and making everyone frustrated. Corey was one of those frustrated kids. He nonchalantly squeezed through the sea of teenagers without hesitation, however. Nothing about staying in school for another minute excited him. Dread was prevalent when it came to detention. When he was held hostage in that god awful tiny room, he would see the others teachers that would pass by, glancing a judgmental look at him through the door window, knowing full well of all the stupid shit that he’s done.

Skipping out on it was another ordeal.

He was rushing himself to get out of there and it was more important than running out of breath. He had his textbook in hand but it slipped away onto the floor. He hastily tried to pick it back up. He managed to get a hold of it and looked up to see the front entrance with a shimmer of hope in his eyes. He halted in place when he felt a firm hand laid upon his shoulder.

“Where might _you_ be going, Taylor?”

The shimmer faded, and the hope drained away.

Corey turned around to see a familiar face; making him cringe on the inside. He awkwardly smiled.

“Mr. Ross...”

The teacher pulled his hand away from the student’s shoulder. Corey sighed, gripping his textbook in defeat, and followed the teacher to the detention room.

Corey fidgeted with the pencil he was given and stared down at his blank paper. He had a need to zone out and look out the window but the blinds covered it completely. Sloppy words were written down; words that didn’t mean anything to him, because all he thought about was the other things he could’ve been doing right now. As he later found himself deep in thought, he heard the teacher call his name.

“Are you finished?”

“Yeah, um,” Corey let down his pencil and cleared his throat, “may I go to the bathroom?”

There was silence for a short moment, with the teacher looking up at him, pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. He flicked his wrist and the boy nearly ran out of the room.

Digging his hands in his pockets he avoided any form of eye contact from anyone passing by. He locked himself in the bathroom stall when he got there, steaming out a long sigh, and rubbed his forehead in frustration. He only had so little time of detention left but it felt as if it was going on forever and it wouldn’t ever end. Staying in the bathroom, unfortunately, wouldn’t last forever. He got up and started heading back to the detention room. However, he slowed himself down when he saw a door on the side that he recognized.

It was no secret that it was the girl’s locker room before it caught on fire. He wasn’t there when it had happened, but he could remember seeing the school on the news with reporters explaining the situation that broke out, and Corey being bummed the whole time that it wasn’t happening to his junior high instead. Since the school barely had any funds to fix it they only cleared out any debris that was a nuisance. He would always hear the teachers rumor that it was now a storage room but no one believed it. Not even himself. Besides, why would a storage room have a chain and lock on it? He could see it wrapped up along the handle that kept it occupied from any person trying to get inside.

He heard footsteps coming his way. He backed away from the door in response. A kid bumped his shoulder while passing by, which wouldn’t have been a problem if Corey hadn’t felt his eyes on him. He turned around to cure his curiosity on who it was but the kid had already vanished around the corner. He took a deep breath and shook it off; he needed to get back to the classroom before the teacher could castrate him.

Detention was called off. Corey was swiftly out the door with his backpack already on his shoulders. He started pacing to the front entrance since he wanted to get out of the building as soon as possible but stopped in his tracks when he heard someone running towards him from a hallway he just passed. “Corey!”

Corey turned his head with a grin, “Hey Mick, what’s up?”

“Nothing much, had to stay after, it’s whatever.” Mick replied, “Detention again?”

“Why else would I be here?”

He could tell that Mick was acting a little strange by his antsy movement. When they walked out the school doors they both didn’t hesitate to light up a cigarette while making their journey back home.

“Are you going to Chris’ house party tomorrow night?”

Corey raised a brow, “Who the hell is Chris?”

“He’s one of those seniors who throws those big parties once a year. Invites the whole school, you know?” Mick answered. His cigarette made him mumble his words while he stuffed his lighter back in his pocket.

“Couldn’t give me a heads up days before?”

“I just found out today!”

He couldn’t quite wrap his head around why the senior’s would invite the whole damn school, but there was always a high chance of getting booze, so there was no reason for missing out on it. Of course he was gonna go.

* * *

 

The sun was beaming through the winter clouds on a Friday afternoon during lunch hour. Corey was peeking his eyes over at the table that only held three students. They’ve sat at that same table since the year started, but he never consider it odd. However, the oddness came through today because he’d been catching all three of them sneaking their eyes over at him ever since lunch started. He turned his head to Mick while shifting nervously in his seat.

“Who throws a party like this in the middle of March?” He commented while fiddling his paper bag. Mick shrugged in response.

He rested his head in his hand and looked over again at the same table, spying his eyes on one student with noticeable long hair that he swore he recognized, but his observation was shortly cut off when Mick tapped his shoulder. “I have an idea.”

Corey replied with an unimpressed look.

“We should egg Mr. Ross’ house. I know that he lives in the same neighborhood.”

“How do you know?”

“I pass by it sometimes. I saw Mr. Ross outside of his house once.”

Corey couldn’t stop himself from smiling at the thought of it, “Alright, but you bring the eggs.”

Before lunch was near its end they both saw a girl walking up to their table. She and two other girls were handing out flyers around the lunch room talking about school funding, but not even Corey was able to pay for his own school lunch, so he scoffed when the girl approached their table.

“Can you boys donate to help fund the school and fix our locker room?”

Corey had his eyes away from her, but with a quick look he saw the three students across from their table were all blank-point staring at him. He shifted his eyes up at the girl and spoke softly. “No thanks.”

The lunch bell rang. Everyone started exiting the cafeteria in a rush. Corey was fixing his shirt while he walked but accidentally bumped into someone as he did. “Sorry-”

He paused and saw the long and dark haired boy in front of him. Before he could mutter another word, the boy quickly shuffled away to the other two students he was with, acting like nothing happened. Corey swallowed his nerves and acted like it didn't happen either.

* * *

Corey was sat down on the couch in his living room while his grandmother prepared to go out. “I’ll be calling you in an hour to make sure you’re still home.” she said. As he kept his eyes on the TV he agreed to her statement, but didn’t bother to look at her. When he heard the door close his heart pumped in excitement. He got up and grabbed his jacket, preparing himself for the remaining harsh winter winds of Iowa, and ran to his garage to get his bike. Once he was out, he rode over to Mick’s place, since he was assured he knew where the party was at.

“You gonna take that bag inside with you?”

Mick rolled his eyes, “Who’s gonna steal a bag of eggs.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“I’m not. Because we live in fuckin’ _Iowa_.”

They biked down the streets, passing up other neighborhoods and cars driving down the road. Mick stopped him in front of a house and pointed at it. “That’s the one.” he whispered. Corey kept the look of it in the back of his mind. He turned his head forward and saw the house from afar. It looked as if kids were cramming to get inside while music was spilling loudly out of the windows. They eagerly sped through the road to get there.

The house was small and the crowd of kids were nothing but a claustrophobic mess. You almost couldn’t get to the backyard door alone by the amount of people blocking the way. However, there was alcohol, and that was the reason Corey came in the first place. He wiggled his way to the beer keg and got himself a drink but lost sight of Mick in the process. He merely stood there and watched the crowd either stand or dance like maniacs to the shitty music that was playing. He was feeling fine until he glanced his eyes to the corner of the room and saw someone standing like a statue. Strangely enough he was staring right at Corey. He couldn’t quite make out his face at first from the crowd of kids blocking his view. When he plucked out some features it dawned on him that he sits with the same trio at lunch. He awkwardly turned his head away and decided to go in the backyard to get some air.

Corey pulled out a cigarette from his jacket and lit it up, drank his beer, and all while feeling the music bouncing off the walls. He couldn’t wait much longer before his grandmother called home and he couldn’t risk missing that call. He stepped back into the party a few minutes later and there were suddenly fewer less kids than before, relieving Corey from having to go on an adventure to find Mick, but instead found his friend in the corner talking to a girl. He didn’t bother him but rather leaned against the wall next to an opened bathroom door. He watched over him to make sure he wouldn’t pull anything stupid.

Near Mick was the same kid that was staring at him before. Corey felt uncomfortable the more he stared at him but the eye contact wasn’t breaking. He suddenly felt an arm around his chest and a hand covering his mouth as he was being pulled into the bathroom. He fought back as much as he could but failed. Mick thought he’d heard something but the girl caught his attention again. Corey was thrown to the bathroom floor and the stranger hastily closed the door.

“Shh!” the stranger hushed him and kept his voice quiet. “Don’t worry, we just wanna talk.”

Corey was ready to get up and throw his fists around until he saw the boy's appearance. His long and dark hair dangled down and his face was exactly the same one he saw earlier that day. The door opened and two more boys stepped in. All three of them were looking down at Corey’s confused expression.

“We’ve got some exciting news for you.” the other boy added with a smile and rubbed his hands together.  

“First off, I’m Chris. This is Jim,” he pointed to the taller boy next to him and then turned his head to the other boy behind him, “and this is Craig.”

Corey stared up at them. He was unsure of what to say at first. “I’m Corey.” he mumbled. He slowly picked himself off the ground and sat down on the toilet.

“We’re part of a secretive club in the school.”

Corey exhaled with a smile, “That’s a relief, I thought you guys were a cult.”

The boys didn’t smile. He shifted his body awkwardly in response.

“We’ve made the decision that you’ll be the new member to our club.” Jim spoke.

Corey let out a laugh and folded his arms, “Alright, good luck with that.”

He attempted to move himself out of the bathroom but they blocked his way. After trying to force himself through, he stood back in his place with a sigh. “Alright, what do you guys even do?”

“We don’t do anything.” Chris replied.

Corey shot a perplexed look at the trio. “What?”

Jim’s face cringed. He politely moved Chris to the side. “We do what we _need_ to do.”

Corey was silent. He wasn’t sure if this was real, or if he dreaming, or if he was somehow being pranked on live television. “I think I’m gonna go-”

“Don’t worry your reaction is normal.” Jim interrupted. “The only way you’ll understand is by joining us.”

Corey kept trying to leave but the trio was pushing him back again. He plopped down on the toilet in defeat, “Ok, so why me?”

Chris rested his arm on the bathroom counter, carelessly relaxing his body, “You’re fit for our group.”

“You don’t know me!”

“That’s the point.”

Corey stood up in frustration and was able to part them out of the way this time.

“We’ve seen you stare at that locker room door before, Corey,” Chris spoke up quickly, “we know you want in.”

Corey paused while he had the knob turned all the way, but didn’t open the door just yet. He turned his head to them with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“We expect to see you this Monday,” Jim said, with his hand placed on the boys shoulder, and a firm voice came through him, “and do _not_ tell anyone about this.”

“We’ll be waiting for you.” Chris said.

Craig didn’t say a word but gave him a smile.

Mick saw Corey rushing to the front door and out of the house. He ditched the girl he was chatting with to follow his friend on out. He only stood at the doorway for a moment as he watched Corey head towards his bike.

“Hey where’re you going?!” Mick shouted.

“I gotta get home.” Corey replied from afar as he picked his bike off of the ground.

Mick started to worry and walked towards him, “Did something happen?”

“No, I just,” Corey hopped on his bike and anxiously pressed his feet on the pedals, “I need to get home right now. My grandma is gonna call home soon.”

He started riding away. Mick grabbed his backpack quickly while desperately trying to catch up with Corey. “What the hell am I gonna do with these eggs then?”

Corey didn't answer as he rode farther away from Mick. His hands were gripping the handles while he rode his bike briskly, trying to get back home as fast as he could, and managed to reach there at the right time when the phone rang. He tried not to sound as if he was out of breath and reassured his grandmother that he had been home the whole time.

He walked to his bedroom, laid down on his bed, and stared up at the ceiling. He could feel the curiosity pressuring him since the thought of the locker room picked at his brain all the time. He assumed it was charred to the bone but wondered if there was an interesting aspect about it that no one else had seen. He heard his grandmother arrive home but he didn’t want to leave his room or say a word. He wanted to lay in bed and let his mind tantalize him with his thoughts.

The weekend was nothing but a preparation for Monday. When the rising sun of Monday morning arrived he woke up with a mix of different feelings. He was cranky as usual, but internally, he was timid when he remembered what he had to do today. When he was dressed he grabbed his bag and started packing his things. He turned his head to his grandmother and nervously swung his backpack straps over his shoulders.

“Grandma I have to stay after school today.”

She let out an annoyed sigh, “Did you get detention again?”

Corey stood there and let his quick wits make up a lie for him. “No, I actually, uh,” he stood stiffly, “I need to stay after to make up a quiz for Algebra.”

His grandmother sighed again but in relief.

He gathered his stuff and headed to school as normal. He walked to his first period but halted himself when he was faced with the chained up locker room once again. He pulled his head away from the distraction but accidentally got a glance of Chris spying on him from the corner, slipping away into the classroom next to him. He didn’t feel prepared for this.

The kids at the cafeteria were loud and it only made his head hurt. Corey ate his lunch, but the anxiety kept growing inside of him like a virus, and he certainly looked uneasy.

“You seem nervous.”

Corey lifted his head, “I’m not nervous.”

“You’re not telling me something, Corey.”

“I’m totally ok, nothing happened last night.” Corey reassured him. He sneakily looked over at the boys from across the room but none of them looked back at him.

Mick noticed him looking at the trio. “Those kids are so weird.”

Corey straightened his posture and rested his arms on the table, “Yeah, they sure are.”

The bell rang abruptly and he thought he was going to be sick. He sucked it up and didn’t look at anyone on the way to his next class.

In his last period his legs bounced nervously and his mind raced in all different places. He couldn’t focus to begin with and his teacher had to keep getting his attention. The final bell rang and he quickly gathered his things. When he got what he needed from his locker, he stood anxiously and looked around the halls for a moment while he tried to convince himself last minute to just go home and not deal with it. He took a deep breath and went to the bathroom to hide in the stalls until the halls cleared out. When everything had gone quiet, he slowly opened the stall door, and crept out of the bathroom. He looked around carefully to see if he could see any one of the trio anywhere. He gasped when he felt someone grip his wrist and pull him to the side.

Corey pulled his arm away from the boy, “Dammit, Jim.”

Jim grabbed his wrist again tightly and hushed him. He kept his voice to a whisper. “Just follow me, you have to be careful.”

Corey nodded. He let Jim drag him to their destination.

Jim peeked behind the corner and saw the locker room from afar. No staff members were wandering around that area and he could see Chris and Craig’s faces in the gym door windows.

“Coast is clear.”

Corey followed him as they swiftly all at once headed to the locker room door. Craig pulled out a pick that slid in the lock, hastily unlocked it open, and carefully undid the chains as they hurried inside. He quickly placed a fake lock on the chains and neatly put it back together before closing the door. It was dark inside but Jim pulled out his flashlight from his bag so they could all see each other. He let go of Corey’s wrist when he remembered he was holding onto him for too long.

Corey rubbed his wrist and frantically looked around in the dark, “It’s dark as shit in here.”

“Don’t worry we have more than just a flashlight.” Chris assured him with a smile.

From what he saw through Jim’s flashlight, the room was certainly nearly blackened all over, and charred remains were swept away to the corners. Jim guided Chris with his flashlight over to the wall plug by the office as he saw him grab a cord from the ground.

“Wait, didn’t this place catch on fire because of a wall plug?”

“Yeah, but not this one.” Chris said standing up, “It still works. You just need to put some force into it.”

He stomped the plug in with his foot and the lights flickered on. The decorated lights were yellow tinted, giving the room a blonde glow. They were wrapped around almost the entire room. It was lit just enough so Corey could see everyone’s faces.

Chris beamed and posed proudly in front of his new friend. “Welcome to the Anti-Club, Corey.”

Craig sat down on the floor and pulled out his portable radio from his bag, tuning it over to a heavy rock station. Corey heard a band he was fond of playing over the radio and it made him smiled. “Alright, I can get used to this.” He sat himself down and moved the radio next to him but Chris took it back. He sighed.

The group was rather quiet but Corey did what he could to get everyone talking. He wanted a smoke to calm his nerves, but being that they were in school and in a locker room that had already faced the flames once, he couldn’t. He tapped his fingers along to the music and looked over at Craig, who was writing neatly in his Physics textbook, “Enjoying the year so far?”

Craig didn’t look up.

“He doesn’t talk, ya know.”

“Why?”

“He just doesn't.”

Corey looked back at Craig. Things fell silent again. He felt the awkwardness brewing around him. “You guys really do nothing, don’t you?”

“Today’s just not exciting.” Chris said while laying on the floor.

“We had plans,” Jim said, “but today was the wrong day to do it I guess.”

“What were you gonna do?”

Chris sat up. “Graffiti the lockers.”

“ _Not_ _graffiti_. We were just gonna place lewd messages on lockers of people we hate.” Jim explained.

“That sounds awesome, why not today?”

“We don’t feel like it today.”

Corey rummaged through his backpack, pulling out a notebook and paper, tossing it in the middle of the circle. “You’ll feel like it now.”

Chris sat up, “As club president-”

“No one is president of this club, Chris.” Jim took the pen and notebook from the middle and started writing away.

Corey looked at Chris with a smug on his face. Chris threw his hands up in defeat.

Getting in was rough, but getting out was the easiest part. They each had to go one at a time, waiting for one to be out of sight before the next person could leave. Craig reached his hand out to pull out the fake lock and to undo the chains. Corey was allowed to leave first but stopped before he stepped a foot out the door.

“Monday’s are it then?” he questioned, and Chris nodded in reply.

He glanced over at Jim, who was smiling at him, and he smiled back. “See ya guys later.”

He slid outside of the locker room and quickly charged towards the outside doors.

While walking back home, he couldn’t stop thinking about what had just happened. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it would’ve been, but it also wasn’t as exciting as he hoped for it to be. The locker room wasn’t special either. But something was clicking in his mind that made him want to come back. There was a different kind of atmosphere that Corey could feel within that group. He didn’t know those guys but he wanted to see them again. He still struggled to see what was so interesting about him that they insisted he should be a part of their obscure club, but nonetheless, he held his breath. He wasn’t going to tell a soul.

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to this hell of a chaptered series. 
> 
> im not going to upload any more chapters until everything is done and finalized to my liking, which might be awhile. ive been writing this since last year, and im working very hard on it. and i promise it will be good. not supremely proud of this first chapter but we all start somewhere, right?
> 
> and ill add more tags n stuff in the meantime.
> 
> i dont care if y'all want this or not you're all getting it regardless.


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